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Hi I'm Jen. A mom, wife and entreprenur. On Jeneric Stories, I discuss my passions: relationships, raising a toddler, food, pop culture and the arts. I'm also the owner of Pixel Pop Designs. I also manage the creative and editorial direction for Kellogg's Snackpicks.com.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

In the past two years I've known two toddlers who've died by choking on hot dogs and feel the need to pass on the following information as a reminder to fellow parents.

Hot dogs are especially dangerous for young children because of the cylindrical shape, it can wedge itself perfectly into a child's windpipe and block airways. What most people don’t realize is that the circumference of a hot dog is nearly the same size as a child’s throat. When a round slice or bite of hot dog is swallowed without being chewed, the piece can lodge in the throat causing suffocation, sometimes within a matter of minutes.

According to U.S. News & World Report, "Choking is a leading cause of injury and death in young children, and food is one of the main culprits, causing 60 percent of the 17,000 choking cases that land kids in the emergency room each year. Between 66 and 77 children under age 10 die from choking on food each year. And because of the cylindrical shape that seems custom-made to lodge in a kid's throat, hot dogs are the food most commonly associated with fatal choking among children."